Taylor Swift - Speak Now (Oct 2010) - hype, anticipation &c

She nails it all over the place: "Better Than Revenge," "Back to December." Lots of unexpected growls and slurs along with her usual half-note ascensions.

hoping the VV gets someone good to write a solid review of this

I have a feeling they will.

Yeah, this is kinda incredible so far (I'm up to "Mean" now).

I have a feeling they will.

― raging hetero lifechill (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, October 25, 2010 5:08 PM (13 seconds ago) Bookmark

lol

I've never heard the supposedly awful singing, that's just her girlish voice right? This is not meant as a defence, I'm just genuinely not sure what's being referred to specifically. The two times I've seen her live she sounded fine. I remember the long sections of "doe-eyed" contemplation of the crowd (Caramanica is definitely spot-on about that) but no bad notes.

In terms of her ability to write an indelible melody, Swift rivals power-pop acts like Fountains of Wayne and Guster

I agree with you, Tim. I never thought Taylor was anything less than a good singer, which I really believe she is. She's not a traditional belter, but so what.

Ann Powers.

^^^ xx-post yeah loved that line.

"The narrative complexity and nuanced characters of Mad Men are comparable to prior classics of the form such as Caroline in the City."

She didn't sound as strong as Stevie Nicks live when they sang together on an awards show, and on Saturday Night Live her voice was kinda weak once. I see she told Caramanica that she works with a voice coach.

She did sound terrible in that Nicks appearance, but it's been cited so often -- used as a cudgel -- that I'm meh about it now.

I heard so many meh punk rock singers in my 20s that Swift's vocals didn't bother me that much with Nicks. Yes, they were weaker, but it wasn't that big a deal.

Just bought tickets for next year's tour. Watched some Fearless tour special the other day and it sounded great.

I've ordered this but it's not coming until the first week of November because of something else I've ordered with it. So anyway, I am going to try to avoid checking it out until then, but I just wanted to say I am in, in terms of caring about it.

if any of the teenpop crew is still bouncing around on livejournal or tumblr or whatever & are writing about the album, someone plz link

^^

weak pop/country singing >>>>>>>>>>> average indie whine

just made a cup of coffee, putting this on for the first time, so excited

:-D

My take.

haha 'mean' is great

feel like I need to give 'dear john' a few more listens before it sinks in

"dear john" is really great, the last minute or so is just a hammer

it's nice to see taylor add some new production tricks to her songs. the l/r whisper/wail on 'enchanted' is omg

'she thinks I'm psycho because I like to rhyme her name with things'

hahahaha <3

this is such a burn

But I took your matches before fire could catch me so don't look now.
I'm shining like fireworks over your sad, empty town.

hahah yeah, list of things I don't want to ever do in life
1. lose a limb
2. piss off taylor swift

3. Be one of John Mayer's tattoos.

4. Be one of John Mayer's fingers

5. Be John Mayer

eh

what, you want to be John Mayer?

boinked taylor swift iirc

great reason to want to be someone else

i would put up with john mayer's discography & tattoos (and the adulation of jann wenner) if i could have his bank account

just got done, don't know if there's anything as instantly massive as 'you belong with me' but I feel this may be a slow burner compared to her last one

Wouldn't mind having a drink and a grope with Mayer tbh.

lol

omg @ "Long Live" <3<3<3<3<3

http://i51.tinypic.com/o6kzft.jpg

just listened all the way through for the first time. my list of outright winners: mine, sparks fly, back to december, dear john, mean, the story of us, never grow up, better than revenge, last kiss. songs i like and might get to like more: enchanted, innocent, haunted. songs i feel pretty eh about: speak now, long live. and there's a good chance of upward revisions of at least a few of those. good record. now i'm going to listen again.

xpost: really? "long live" feels pretty victory lap-ish to me, and not just in its lyrics. it's ok, but reminds me of "change" in being a sort of empty, crowd-pleasing closer.

it is a total victory rap! and it's not empty at all to my ears! it's triumphant!

uh, victory lap

would buy a Taylor Swift rap record tho

it'll sound good in stadiums, for sure.

the timpani drums on 'enchanted' are a great touch

I adore "Change" too, fwiw

How could you not want to smash

http://www.drfunkenberry.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/john1.jpg

He's okay from the neck up, honestly.